An incredible year in review is like a good novel - best templates

The end of the year is always a great opportunity to make the right summaries. 12 months pass in no time. A photo book is the perfect way to capture (even for a second) beautiful moments in time. Printed on a high-quality paper, it will preserve your memories and make you look back at the previous year with fondness.

Photo books – you keep a Year in review in your hands

The end of a calendar year is undoubtedly a period of summaries and making plans for the new months. Looking back, we see the challenges we have faced, the successes we have achieved and fields that still need some improvement. To fully “close” this time, it's worth collecting the most beautiful moments of the past year in one place. Taking a broader picture of this all, people gain a healthy perspective on many things. Take a look at the photos you took last year (it's a good idea to organise them on your computer by the dates they were taken) with both your camera and smartphone. Think about the events which were the most important to you and create a consistent story in the form of a photo book.

What photo book to choose? What to look for?

When we decide to design and buy a photo book, we make a number of more or less important choices. The most important include:

Photo Book/Photo Album – the main difference is the technique of their production. Photo books are printed on ink-jet printers. While silver technology is used in the production of photo albums. Photo album cards are exposed like traditional prints, and then photos are sealed with a cardboard. The thickness of pages is also different. The weight of pages of a photo book is 200 g/m2, while in the case of a photo album it is as many as 800 g/m2.

Format – there's really a lot of options available. The most popular sizes are: 24x24, A4, A5, 30x30 and 20x20. It's important to note what kind of pictures are to make up our photographic project, for example portrait-oriented photographs look good on certain layouts, and large photo book formats are perfect for a gift.

Cover – we usually have a hardback, softback and a so-called soft touch cover to choose from (it is a cover with the advantages of a standard hardback cover, but with a special foam lining it is very soft in touch).

Paper density – in other words paper “weight”. It primarily affects the design and durability of your photo book, but also improves colour reproduction and improves the depth of your prints. We distinguish between a light weight of 100-150g/m², a medium weight of 150-200g/m² and a high weight of more than 250g/m².

Photo book - an overview of the best templates and themes

Year in review
A “Year in review” template is a classic offer which allows to capture the most important events of the past twelve months in an elegant form. The cover is a stylish collage of photos that can be presented in their full glory in the middle of a photo book or constitute a separate introduction to a photo history. Using an intuitive editor, you'll easily upload your photos and place them on individual pages. For a project to be complete, it is also useful to insert captions in the dedicated text fields, which describe each photo.

Yearbook
A “Yearbook” template is a model presenting a stylish minimalism in design. A designation of the past year is placed in the centre of the cover, where each digit can be filled with your photo. In addition, for your convenience, each month is marked with a cover page. This way, we preserve the consistency and transparency of the story. This is quite useful when after years we look for a specific event from the past.

Honeycomb
Each novel is divided into chapters. Our life, however, is arranged according to the passing years. Twelve months is a significant period of time in which many interesting moments may have occurred. A “Honeycomb” template is a creative approach to design in photo books. A photo enclosed in the form of a regular hexagon guarantees a powerful visual effect for the addressee. This theme is especially recommended for fans of original layouts.

Colours of the Rainbow
Just like after rain we admire a whole spectrum of rainbow colours in the sky, you can also close your year and various events in a visually pleasing “Rainbow colours” template. Pastel background colours are perfect for creating a year of life of your beloved baby, for example. Individual parts of the photo book have proper markings thanks to which the entire photo book is divided into coherent chapters.

Photo Book - summary of interesting ideas

Despite appearances, creating an interesting photo book is not a simple task. Creating a consistent story requires, above all, an interesting idea and a little artistic sense. Here's a handful of inspiration.

An important event - sometimes when you browse photos from all year round, it's a good idea to focus on one, chosen event. To create a story that, like the one written in school, has its introduction, development and conclusion. It can be a family trip to the forest or a Sunday trip in an autumn mood.

A pet - an animal is very often an additional member of our family, without which we don't imagine living. It's a good idea to capture the moments spent together, such as a morning walk, games at home or a vet visit.

A part of the whole story - having lots of photos, sometimes we can't decide which one to choose.
In such a case, it is good to draw out a piece of the larger whole, which will be the essence of the whole event, e.g., the relationship between a grandfather and a grandchild can be presented by a brief report on the repair of a child bicycle.

Passion - it is also a good idea to take pictures of your own passion, for example, many people are fascinated by cooking. In this case, you can capture a lot of interesting images when cooking and baking a variety of different kinds of delicacies.

Classmates - an interesting project will be also to include in the photo book photographs of all students who have attended the same class in a given year. We will appreciate the value of such a souvenir after years when, as we say “everyone will go their separate ways”. In the opinion of our customers, this is one of the most interesting ideas for taking advantage of wide possibilities offered by the photo book.

Summary

The best photo book is the one you create on your own. No matter what template or theme you choose, it will be a souvenir with soul. The moments of our life captured in photographs, which will never come back again. Therefore, when deciding on a specific print, pay special attention to the quality of the materials used. Only high quality will give you a lasting effect that will be enjoyed by your grown-up kids and grandchildren.